What happens in Egypt does not stay in Egypt, and the 30 June Revolution against the country's former Islamist government has shaken the whole region to the roots. In one country after another, the confrontation between the Islamists and their detractors has assumed a whole new meaning, with the Islamists exploding in anger across the region. Forgetting their own errors, forgetting even their many differences, they have spoken as one in declaring that what happened in Egypt was a war against Islam. The Sudanese Islamists have been no exception. Marching in force to denounce what they described as a “coup” in Egypt, they conveniently forgot the fact that their leader, President Omar Al-Bashir, himself came to power through a military coup 24 years ago. As the Islamists held a massive demonstration in front of the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum to denounce Morsi's overthrow, the Sudanese Islamist movement issued a statement voicing its displeasure at the deposing of the Egyptian president. The official view in Khartoum has been more cautious, however, with the government saying that the developments in Egypt were an “internal affair”. It is no secret that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has close ties with the ruling Islamists in Sudan. Last year, the Sudanese government voiced its satisfaction over the election of Morsi as Egypt's president, and Al-Bashir and Morsi met several times over the course of last year. Yet, if the Islamists in Sudan have been dismayed, joy and elation have been the flip side of the coin, expressed unanimously by Sudan's civil currents. Various liberal writers have voiced their delight that Egypt has spurned the kind of rule that has landed Sudan in one crisis after another. The events in Egypt have revived the hopes of the secular Sudanese. Over the past few weeks, several initiatives have been put together to challenge the regime by peaceful means, with an alliance of Sudanese opposition parties launching a 100-day campaign to bring down Al-Bashir and the Umma Party, led by Sadig Al-Mahdi, starting a signature campaign styled after the Tamarod Movement in Egypt. However, many Sudanese are keenly aware that unlike in Egypt they do not have an independent army to fall back upon. Nor do their parties, media, and civil society have the same clout as those in Egypt. The only way to challenge the regime, some Sudanese say, is through armed resistance. Hassan Al-Toraby, the godfather of Sudan's Islamist movement, has come out in support of Morsi, claiming that what happened in Egypt was a coup and adding that the Brotherhood had been “doing a lot of good” for the country. Fayez Al-Sheikh Al-Seleik, a Sudanese writer, said that elections were the best way to bring in a president, but democracy was not just about elections. “The Egyptian people have taught the whole world a lesson,” Al-Seleik said. “The Egyptians came out twice in two years to speak against their leaders, even those they put in power, and they have replaced them in a peaceful manner.” Al-Seleik added that “the Egyptian army didn't stage a coup. No coup is declared in advance a few months ahead. No coup is organised by young people, endorsed by politicians, and carried out with the help of religious figures from the Church and Al-Azhar. What kind of coup is that?” Sudanese political science professor Al-Moezz Abu Nourah said that the fall of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt had been “a great victory” for the forces of modernity and revival in the Arab world. “The young people of Tamarod in Egypt have challenged the highest authority, namely, the authority of the general guide of Political Islam in the region, and they have smashed it,” Abu Nourah said. Sudanese writer Tayssir Hassan Idriss said that voters had the right to withdraw their mandate from their elected leaders if the latter broke the terms of that mandate. “This is the essence of the democratic process,” Idriss said. “The mandate only endures as long as the people who gave the mandate are satisfied with the performance of the individual who received it. The duration of the term in office is irrelevant.” Idriss added that the currents of Political Islam in the countries of the Arab Spring should understand that the terrible experience of Sudan could not be repeated. “The Sudanese people were taken by surprise. Sudan was hijacked at gunpoint through a treacherous military coup,” Idriss pointed out. Addressing the Islamists across the Arab world, Idriss said that “they have to abandon their stupid dreams and start paying attention to fixing their destructive ways and their idiotic practices.” The Islamists, he added, should come up with mature and modern ideas. Unless they accept the norms of democracy, Idriss said, the Islamists “will end up in total isolation, consigned to the caves of the past”. Sudan denied that the Sudanese president had sent a message of support to the deposed president of Egypt. Sudanese Foreign Minister Ahmed Karti called his ex-Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr to discuss a report in Akhbar Al-Youm that cited the former deputy chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence, Major General Tharwat Goudah, as saying that he had received a copy of a message sent by Al-Bashir to Morsi after the latter had been removed from office. A spokesman for the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said that the news report was untrue and was an attempt to damage relations between the two countries. The spokesman reiterated Sudan's position that what was happening in Egypt was an internal matter, adding that Sudan trusted in Egypt's ability to transcend the current crisis. Sudanese officials were also quick to dismiss the possibility that what had happened in Egypt could be repeated in Sudan, and Khartoum also took action to appease Egypt's concern over the smuggling of weapons across the borders with Sudan. The Sudanese authorities said they had foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons and ammunition to Egypt. Nearly 2,247 rounds of Kalashnikov bullets and 17 empty cartridges were seized from three Egyptian men travelling in Dongola. The men apparently planned to smuggle the weapons into Egypt. The Sudanese army also denied reports that Turkish weapons had been smuggled into Egypt via Yemen and Sudan.
